


Bring on the Lightning

by yellow_sunrise



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Barry Meets Dawn, Family Feels, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Revelations, Time Travel, family bonds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-19
Updated: 2018-05-19
Packaged: 2019-05-08 20:50:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14702043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yellow_sunrise/pseuds/yellow_sunrise
Summary: Barry finally catches the mystery girl in action.





	Bring on the Lightning

**Author's Note:**

> Her name is tagged as Dawn Allen, but here her name is Nora Dawn Allen.

There was no other way to describe it really. Like a spark of light in a lonely, dark room and watching it flicker on and off. The spark was another speedster and the room was the speed force. He could feel them tapping into it when they ran, and if he focused hard enough he could almost sense them. He was on edge for several weeks, waiting for the shoe to drop, for this new speedster to reveal themselves and their master plan. But nothing happened and he ignored it. Maybe they didn’t mean any harm.

 

Barry was getting used to the spark when he saw the girl himself.

 

He was crossing the street, running an errand for Iris, his lightning trailing behind him, when he spotted the girl. At first glance he might’ve never noticed her but then she flinched, about two pulses before anyone else could even see him he  _ knew _ .

 

A speedster. She tried to play it off, pretending to adjust her hair and clothes, searching for a glimpse of the scarlet speedster but it was too late.

 

So after dropping off Iris’s package to Joanie, he zoomed by once more and caught the tail end of a glimpse of lightning. It was natural as breathing to follow that trail and he frowned when he saw the girl closer. She had a strange dual colored lightning--yellow and purple--something he’d never seen. Most speedsters had yellow lightning so that wasn’t all that strange. But the purple was relatively new. Iris had it briefly, but this clearly wasn’t Iris.

 

He pulled up next to her and looked at her face. She ignored him but Barry recalled that face.

 

The waitress from his wedding!

 

“Hey!” he called out and she jerked away, turning on her heel and zipping up and down the streets. Barry was impressed by her skill but he was more experienced and quite frankly so much faster. 

 

“Fine,” she said sliding to an inelegant stop and turning to Barry her hands coming together nervously.

 

“You were at my wedding last year. You talked to me that day and said we’d never met,” he began. He started to circle her, and she moved in tandem, staying a out of his immediate arm range.

 

“I was,” she admitted.

 

“So who are you?”

 

“I’m not an enemy, I swear to you,” she said emphatically.

 

“Then who are you?” Barry asked tiredly, his shoulders sagging weakly. He was just so tired of fighting. They’d finally defeated Devoe and for once Barry wanted to get through the year without a new threat looming on the horizon.

 

“I’m family.” she replied. Barry was still and he stared at her.

 

“Family?”

 

“Yes. A relative of yours.”

 

“How are we related?” he was almost afraid to ask, but Barry knew deep down. Because as familiar as her use of the speed force was, it  _ bent _ around her. An anomaly amongst it’s usual ebb and flow.

 

“A descendant. We’re uh, relatively close in relation,” she told him. Barry took a deep breath and let it go, unsure of what to say or do.

 

“Prove it. Tell me something only a family member would know,” he said. 

 

“When you were sixteen you wrote a love letter to Iris, but you never gave it to her. Not until you were already married. It was really grammatically incorrect and too long but she read it and she cried because you said `There are things I still don’t know, but you are the only thing I’m ever sure of’,” she whispered, her eyes filling with tears. Barry might’ve felt embarrassed, knowing that some other person saw one of his clumsy declarations of love, but he knew for a fact that Iris never told anyone. She rarely gushed and she had seen clearly the shyness on Barry’s face when he showed it to her.

 

“Where, or when, did you come from?” he asked.

 

“I’m from Central City, 2041. I know I shouldn’t have come back but I needed to, there’s something bad happening where I’m from and I’ve been...studying you and the team.”

 

“Studying us,” he repeated worriedly. She was quick to reassure him, her hands waving frantically.

 

“Not maliciously. I wanted to observe how you fight your battles and honestly, because I wanted to see it for myself. It’s the stuff of legend, the Flash in Central City,” she sighed.

 

“Am I not in Central anymore?” he asked, catching her phrasing. She deflated when he said that.

 

“I can’t tell you anything you know that,” she said.

 

“Is Iris okay?” he asks instead, wanting to know that if he’s gone, she’s safe and happy.

 

“She is.” the girl nodded. “She’s an editor actually, at her own newspaper.” the girl looked so unbelievably proud that Barry smiled back, although he was so ecstatic for Iris that he didn’t notice how her face changed to surprise at how much she’d revealed.

 

“I knew she could do anything she wanted. So, if you didn’t mean any harm, why hide?” he asked.

 

“I wasn’t going to hide at first. I was just going to be in proximity to you all but then things got crazy and I needed to disappear. I never meant for you to know who I am.” she looked almost teary as she said this and Barry felt this distant memory lurking at the back of his brain.

 

_ She’s so little! Can you believe we made her? _

 

_ Of course I can, she has you for a father. _

 

He shook his head weakly, trying to gather his wits but it was like a floodgate opening and suddenly Barry felt like he was living a whole life at once and he had a hard time keeping this mystery girl in focus.

 

_ It’s my turn to hold her Iris. Here, let’s switch. _

 

_ Fine, fine. Ten minutes Barry I’m counting! _

 

He stumbled on his feet and he could swear that he was moving at great speeds but his location wasn’t changing.

 

_ Come on, you can do it baby girl. Go to Daddy!  _

 

_ She’s walking! Iris she’s walking! _

 

“Mr. Allen? Are you okay?” the girl asked uneasily, approaching him slowly. Usually in this kind of situation, Barry might have tried to keep his distance but he knew instinctively to stay where he was.

 

_ Daddy I’m going to be a superhero like you! Look I can make myself spin really fast! _

 

_ Wait baby girl don’t-- _

 

_ Oops. Sorry Daddy. _

 

“Are you sick? Oh my God, what’s wrong?” the girl asked frantically, her hands hovering over Barry’s shoulders. She kept trying to stare at his eyes but Barry could strangely, only see Iris.

 

_ Dad, what’s happening? Who was that man? _

 

_ Get back in the house! _

 

_ What is he doing? Dad? _

 

Barry collapsed onto his knees, reaching up for the girl and she grabbed his hand and kneeled with him, and Barry saw that she was crying.

 

“Please don’t do this. Don’t make me go back and you’re not there. You have to fight it whatever it is,” she pleaded.

 

_ I have to go. Take care of your mom. She’ll need you guys now more than ever. Promise me. _

 

_ Dad I-- _

 

“Dad, wake up!” the girl cried, her face hovering over his and with an audible  _ snap! _ Barry knew who she was, more than that he  _ knew her _ .

 

_ Nora, I love you. Be brave, my beautiful girl. _

 

“Nora,” he breathed weakly, shocked and yet not that he was speaking to his daughter from the future. She smiled weakly at him and nodded.

 

“Yeah, yeah Dad it’s me. I’m here, what do you need?” she asked, helping him sit up. Barry was so disoriented, he almost felt like he had one hoe in the now, the present. In the present he was married to Iris and they still lived in their house and the idea of children for them was welcome, but still far off. But he also felt like he was standing in all the times after this, where he’s already a father--a father!--and he’s really just one more big battle away from retiring from the superhero business, or at least taking a backseat to the whole thing. He’s old and young, naive and wise all at once. He remembers how the others described him after coming out of the speedforce.

 

“We need to talk to Iris and the team. They need to know,” he says quietly and she nods meekly.

 

“Oh God, I’m gonna be in so much trouble,” Nora whimpers. Barry is alarmed before he remembers. When the twins--wait? Two?--learned that speedsters could time travel Iris had told them firmly in that way only a mom really can that if she catches them time traveling they will be in a world of trouble. Iris isn’t Nora’s mother yet, but Nora’s Iris  _ will _ remember this and for a moment, Barry does feel for the girl. Iris is a formidable mom.

 

“Don’t worry. I’ll vouch for you. It’s basically a rite of passage now,” he joked. She laughed wetly.

 

“Man it’s good to call you Dad again. Can you stand?” she asks, getting up and offering her own small hand. For a minute, Barry can remember a pair of chubby fingers reaching for him from her crib. God, he’s technically only just met her but he already knows so much. Knows how much he does and will love his daughter, his beautiful girl.

 

“Yeah, I’m good. I’m pretty fit for my age,” he jokes, knowing that it must be weird to see your Dad young. She snorts.

 

“Maybe. But let’s see if maybe I have an edge since you’re so young now,” she says, falling into a loose runner’s stance.

 

“Am I faster in the future?” he asks. She looks at him incredulously, her eyes dancing with glee.

 

“Dad, you have  _ no  _ idea how fast you are. I’ll tell you this much. You raced someone who can teleport. And you won,” she said simply. Barry’s eyes widened and she laughed at his expression.

 

“That’s fast,” he breathed.

 

“Yeah. No one’s beaten you yet, but Uncle Wally says he’s letting you have the glory.” she laughed.

 

“I have no doubts about that.” he said, shaking his head fondly and he flashed away. Nora watched his run with naked admiration and she smiled, running after him.

**Author's Note:**

> And before anyone comes to correct me, yes I'm aware that it's Wally West as the Flash that beat the teleporter, but since the show's continuinty seems to keep insisting that Barry is fastest, I'll roll with that.


End file.
